Sister, Love Your Emperor Once More

When Li Fengsheng was eighteen, her husband's family was convicted of treason. Her husband was executed, and her own family was implicated. She had been married for less than two years and was already a young widow. Confined to the inner palace, she was separated from her infant son and made nursemaid to the five-year-old Eighth Prince.

Wei Ying's mother had died when he was young. The emperor took pity on his youngest son and decided to raise him himself.

Wei Ying was solitary and gloomy, and no one could get close to him. He was the most difficult child to care for. The other nursemaids were intimidated by him, but he alone grew attached to Li Fengsheng. Night after night, she read to him and helped him study the Six Arts of the Gentleman. Whenever he was ill, she stayed by his side, never even changing out of her clothes, and treated him as her own.

As the young prince grew, Li Fengsheng began to look forward to the future. She hoped that if she raised him well, her punishment would be reduced and she would soon be allowed to see her own child again.

At sixteen, Wei Ying had grown into a handsome, graceful young man, accomplished in both letters and arms.

At his birthday banquet, someone plotted against him and drugged him with an aphrodisiac. By the time he returned, the drug's effects had taken hold.

Li Fengsheng helped him lie down and rest. She had no idea the handsome young man was looking at her strangely, his expression calm yet feverish. His voice was hoarse. "If you would teach me one thing, Fifth Mother, I'll ask Father for an imperial pardon for Fuzhi."

Fuzhi was her son's childhood name.

Li Fengsheng's expression shifted. "Ying... what is it?"

Wei Ying's gaze darkened. He seized her wrist and pressed her back against the edge of the bed. "The art of lovemaking. Fifth Mother, teach Ying how to become a man."

Li Fengsheng's pupils contracted. She could not retreat. The tall, broad-shouldered youth had already pinned her beneath him. Their eyes met, and she answered with a tremor in her voice, "Heaven and earth may know, but no one else can. Ying mustn't let anyone find out."

The candles burned on, lighting Wei Ying's sweat-slicked body.

Afterward, she lay across the pillow, catching her breath, when she heard Wei Ying murmur, as if to himself: Fifth Mother, you are mine... If Fifth Mother dies, I will follow her.

The day Wei Ying was enfeoffed as Prince of Chu, thunder boomed and rain poured. The other nursemaids were all rewarded with noble titles and sent home in fine clothes.

Li Fengsheng alone waited eagerly to be reunited with her son. But no matter how long she waited, no imperial decree came. She feared that her affair with Wei Ying had been discovered.

She paced anxiously until Wei Ying returned.

Wei Ying's gaze was shadowed as he stared at her and slowly drew near. "You've already shared a bed with me, Fifth Mother. How can you leave Ying behind?"

Thunder roared. The room was dark, and lightning flashed, illuminating his peerlessly handsome face.

"Don't leave Ying... never leave Ying."

Wei Ying slowly crouched in front of her and rubbed his cheek against the back of her hand. His voice was low and hoarse, with the stubbornness of a child.

"He is your child, but Ying is your child too... Fifth Mother, do you not want Ying anymore?"

1. The age gap is 13 years. The romance begins after the male lead turns 16.

2. Female lead is a woman and male lead is a man. The leads are not related by blood or marriage.

Theme: Refusing to bow to fate